• 19 Aug 2025, 6:19 p.m.

    I didn't say anything about Yates. Nuno clearly likes his ability to disrupt opponents when we're closing matches out, and he's the club captain who clearly loves being here. As I said, I think Sangare or Dominguez are the ones we'd listen to offers for, and both would probably attract strong money.

  • 19 Aug 2025, 6:25 p.m.

    Dominguez isn’t going to be fit to play before the end of august which would drive his value down, even if we could persuade someone to take the risk.

  • 19 Aug 2025, 6:26 p.m.

    Sure, but with Anderson and Luiz likely the first choices, I can see one of Sangare and Dominguez (probably the latter) wanting more assured playing time.

  • 19 Aug 2025, 6:27 p.m.

    The rumour (Athletic) I have seen is that it all hangs on [oh goody!] amortisation, in that Juve want to be able to write off his book value (currently c.£35m). We would rather loan him for a year & then pay c.£30m, which is roughly what his book worth will be by then. That feels kind of like there’s a likely deal there somewhere.

    I get why people aren’t sure about the price, but for a player with a proven Prem Record, who is a current / very recent Brazilian international, that’s far from silly money. I don’t think “the model” dictates that EVERY player we sign must be young, cheap, ready to develop & sell on. Two of our key players - Matz Sels & Chris Wood - don’t fit that particular cookie-cutter.

    I very much doubt we’ll sell Sangaré or Domínguez at this stage… not before we’ve even seen the extent to / speed with which all these signings slot in. Not everyone will be fantastic straight away (which is completely normal).

  • 19 Aug 2025, 6:32 p.m.
  • 19 Aug 2025, 6:39 p.m.
  • 19 Aug 2025, 6:39 p.m.

    No, he wouldn’t - though there’s the whole “Chelsea wages” thing, which could be a challenge.

  • 19 Aug 2025, 6:55 p.m.

    Cost of wages and injury record make it a no from me Clive.

  • 19 Aug 2025, 7:04 p.m.

    I'd argue the other side of this ... But I wasn't early convinced either, so.

    We do certainly need 1-2 new full backs though.

  • 19 Aug 2025, 7:10 p.m.

    Can't help feeling that Kyle Walker-Peters on a free was a missed opportunity. Covers both sides and at the level, for me.

  • 19 Aug 2025, 7:19 p.m.

    I fancy that James Justin that Leicester hate and should be cheap.

  • 19 Aug 2025, 7:44 p.m.

    Sangare going back to last season has been the form player. He was the platform for Anderson and Gibbs White to build on at the weekend. He shouldn't even be in your consideration.

  • 19 Aug 2025, 7:51 p.m.

    According to reports in Brazil, Luiz has signed.....

    Sangare for the past two seasons had been generally injured and gash. If the real Sangare (he also learnt English in this time) was on Sunday then we should keep him.

    His position is going to be mostly under threat from Luiz who might not be fully fit anyway. Also the big African does seem to run out of steam in the second half so maybe room for both of them. Love our Ryan. I suspect it will be harder for him and he might just end up playing Europa. We shall see.

    Dom is making great progress with his injury so I suspect he will be a super sub for a while. Pretty sure he will be featured in important games though.

    It's up to Nuno to make us a functional group. Let's hope he does a better job at intergration than Jota and Sosa and Taiwo last season.

    Still need two full backs though. Aina and Neco will probably break if they have too many games to play. Has Richards left yet? Pretty sure he will.

    Maybe Abbott at a stretch but he really is a centre back. Played well in the Cup semi-final though.

    Chicago: Functional.

  • 19 Aug 2025, 8:02 p.m.

    Also, Sangaré will be off for AFCON, right? That's a definite consideration, as well as the likelihood of injuries across the team.

  • 19 Aug 2025, 8:17 p.m.

    I believe that Luiz scored a fair few goals at Villa, some from direct free kicks and even corners. That's a skillset sorely lacking in our squad. Gerrimin.

  • 19 Aug 2025, 8:43 p.m.

    I don’t think we need to trim our 6/8s at this point for all the reasons listed above

    Dominguez is injured and won’t attract money until he’s fit. Sangare has been getting a lot of minutes and looking good.

    Clearly Yates is the weakest player but offers a lot of off the pitch stuff.